FTCWifey
08-06-2007, 10:34 AM
My told me about this while I was up visiting her in Canada last week and I was so moved I cried.
Toronto is a city approaching three million people, for the greater Toronto area the figure is somewhere around five million. Normally in this city, any disruptions in the daily activities of its citizens are not well received and may be greeted with, at the very least, indifference.
But something amazing has transformed these individuals of Canada’s largest city. As the bodies of our Canadian soldiers arrive at CFB Trenton and travel to the coroners office in Toronto, people stop what they are doing and come out by the hundreds, if not thousands, to line streets and bridges to pay their respect to the fallen.
This show of respect has been growing as more of our troops have unfortunately been killed. Many of the people who came out to watch the convoy of black hearses and limousines pass, have no affiliation with the military, but were driven by the desire to be part of an unofficial ceremony to the departed.
Suzanne and Adrian Lew stood waiting outside Fire Station 313 on Bloor Street East in Toronto for an hour and a half.
Ms. Lew clutched a Canadian flag as she peered down Bloor Street waiting for the first glimpse of the police escort to the convoy. “We wanted to show our respect and just to be here,” said Ms. Lew.
The once deserted sidewalk from an hour before filled with people of all ages and backgrounds, as well as firefighters. The firefighters from Fire Station 313, in their dress uniforms, pulled two fire trucks out of the station house with their lights flashing.
When the first sirens could be heard from the approaching convoy the city police had already blocked off the street to traffic. All movement on the sidewalks had stopped and this once busy street had grown unnaturally quiet, as firefighters assembled in a line and saluted and all citizens stopped and stood respectfully watching the long line of hearses, limousines and police vehicles pass quickly
Toronto is a city approaching three million people, for the greater Toronto area the figure is somewhere around five million. Normally in this city, any disruptions in the daily activities of its citizens are not well received and may be greeted with, at the very least, indifference.
But something amazing has transformed these individuals of Canada’s largest city. As the bodies of our Canadian soldiers arrive at CFB Trenton and travel to the coroners office in Toronto, people stop what they are doing and come out by the hundreds, if not thousands, to line streets and bridges to pay their respect to the fallen.
This show of respect has been growing as more of our troops have unfortunately been killed. Many of the people who came out to watch the convoy of black hearses and limousines pass, have no affiliation with the military, but were driven by the desire to be part of an unofficial ceremony to the departed.
Suzanne and Adrian Lew stood waiting outside Fire Station 313 on Bloor Street East in Toronto for an hour and a half.
Ms. Lew clutched a Canadian flag as she peered down Bloor Street waiting for the first glimpse of the police escort to the convoy. “We wanted to show our respect and just to be here,” said Ms. Lew.
The once deserted sidewalk from an hour before filled with people of all ages and backgrounds, as well as firefighters. The firefighters from Fire Station 313, in their dress uniforms, pulled two fire trucks out of the station house with their lights flashing.
When the first sirens could be heard from the approaching convoy the city police had already blocked off the street to traffic. All movement on the sidewalks had stopped and this once busy street had grown unnaturally quiet, as firefighters assembled in a line and saluted and all citizens stopped and stood respectfully watching the long line of hearses, limousines and police vehicles pass quickly